Tears on a Sunday Afternoon - Michael Presley [30]
The rain had subsided as I drove to the hunter’s meeting place. I parked my truck in a lot filled with pickup trucks, SUV’s and vans. I parked the Hummer behind a pickup truck that had a bumper sticker which read, “I hunt for my food.” I laughed. I didn’t think there was anyone in America who hunted for food. Steal and kill for food but never hunt. Most of these so-called hunters had paid exorbitant amounts of money for their hunting equipment. A deer or two would never be enough to cover such costs. I had paid about four hundred dollars for my camouflage outfit, boots and shoulder bag; probably a third of the rest of them.
“You ready, Son?” The voice came from an old man sitting in the passenger side of a pickup truck. The door was open and the man was cleaning a brown rifle with a telescopic sight at the top.
“Yeah, been waiting for this all year.” I tried to sound convincing, but did not know what else to say.
“Me too, my friend. It’s going to be a good year. So, what you carrying?” He looked through the sights of the gun.
My cell phone rang at the same time that I was trying to fabricate a response. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Got to go.”
The old man grunted and continued inspecting his rifle.
I looked down at the phone number. It was Brian. I hadn’t told Brian about this trip and I wasn’t about to now.
“What’s up, Brian?” I continued walking toward the restaurant.
“I’m in love!”
I pulled the phone away from my ear. His excitement had created a high pitch in his voice. I had never heard Brian so excited. He had spoken to me about women before but never like this. This was a new Brian.
I asked the dumbest question in the world. “With whom?”
“Who do you think?”
I stopped and leaned on the hood of a black Chevy Impala.
“Julie.” I prayed that he would name someone else.
“Yes.”
His answer had been expected, but still, I was disappointed. My last meeting with Julie had been an eye opener. I had crossed the boundary that friends are not supposed to cross. I had swum across the alligator-infested lake ready to battle the lion, naked except for a six-inch knife between my teeth.
“Are you sure?” I asked, reaching deeper into my soul.
“We spent the weekend together and I have never felt like this about a woman.”
The words coming from the phone made my hands shake. Brian had taken my virgin. He had taken the woman who I had placed on that pedestal.
“That’s great.” I said, half-heartedly. I had major plans for Julie. Didn’t she feel what I felt when I touched her hand?
“Man, everything is coming together for me. How many more days before we do that thing?” he asked.
“Fourteen.” I pushed myself off the Impala and walked down the stairs to the restaurant. “Got to go, Brian.”
I opened the door to what seemed more like a high school cafeteria than a restaurant. Two hundred or so men and women had gathered for the event. Women’s rights had come a long way; they were delighted to kill animals too.
“Find a seat; we’ll find you,” a young white woman, not a day over twenty-one, advised me as she bustled past me in a tight white T-shirt and a pair of khaki shorts. My eyes scanned the room for the man whose face matched the picture in my pocket. Bill had instructed me to follow the alcohol but, in this setting, that was of absolutely no help.
“How you doing, big fellow?” a white, middle-aged woman asked as I started to walk to the bar.
She wasn’t much to look at, with a big gut and gigantic breasts. She was sitting at a small table with an extra chair. There was a pitcher of beer and a plate with a burger and fries on it.
“Good. You want company?” I asked, still searching the room for my father.
“Yeah, why not? My girlfriend’s supposed to meet me here but her husband didn’t get in yet.” She pushed the empty chair out with her foot.
I extended my hand to her. “I’m Peter.”
“Marge.” She gripped my hand tightly and shook it up and down.
I divided the room into quadrants; searching for my father. “It’s really crowded in here.”
“This must be your first time here,